Roguetown: Bar Tales and Vessels
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece
Once again, Axe found himself in the execution area again, looking in all directions, scratching his head. He had made his way down from the Marine base after sending Niri and his folks a letter on how he was doing and he decided to go to the shipyard to find a decent ship for him and his crew. The problem was, he didn't know where to go.
"Where the hell is the shipyard?" he muttered to himself, still scratching his head, "I gotta find me a ship, but if I can't find the shipyard, then I can't get to the shipyard, and if I can't get to the shipyard, then I can't buy a boat, and if I can't buy a boat, then we're stuck here, and if we're stuck here, we can't go hunting for One Piece!"
Realizing he said all that out loud, Axe looked around to see most people were staring at him and quite a few of those people were Marines.
"Aw crap...," he waved at the Marines, who began to approach him, "Hiya boyos. Bye boyos!" he turned tail and bolted down the street, "Shit, that wasn't too smart of me! I just hope the others are staying out of trouble!"
"You stole food?!"
"Now, before you get all mad-,"
"You stole food! Toby, you're not supposed to steal anything!"
"Sometimes you have to steal to survive!"
"You had money, you didn't have to steal!"
"I had to, I was really, really hungry for all the meat and I didn't have enough money!"
Ripley watched the verbal tennis match between Kairi and Toby, So mad over little things...
"Ripley! Please, help me out here," Kairi turned to the navigator, "Tell Toby that it's wrong to steal food, or steal period!"
"Ripley, tell Kairi that if one is starving and can't pay for things, it's better to steal and eat then to be righteous and starve to death!"
The navigator shook her head, grinning at the two younger pirates, "I can't believe you two are getting worked up over such a little thing,"
"What?!"
"Little?!"
"Lemme explain," Ripley cleared her throat, "Yes, stealing can be wrong and one can get into trouble for it-,"
"HA! I win, Toby!"
"I'm not done, Kairi. While it can be wrong, it could also be a last resort for survival. Do you know what this means, kids?"
Both shook their heads.
"Both of you are right and both of you are wrong. Simple as that," Ripley grabbed her hammer and walked past them, "C'mon, let's go look for a ride outta here," she looked back at the others, "You guys seem to be having a blast, am I right?"
"Whew...lost 'em," Axe shut the door behind him, "That was close, even for me! Now, where am I exactly?"
Axe had ducked into a building in one of the older districts of Roguetown, and even for it's age, this building clearly saw better days. Not wanting to risk it outside, Axe carefully made his way into the building's depths. It was pretty dark, even for this time of the day, but the windows were either really smudged or boarded up, so he couldn't get much sunlight inside. Passing through a set of double-doors, Axe found himself in a tavern. If he wasn't used to seeing his mother own and run one back in the West Blue, he'd have to take a guess at what this place was, but due to his mom's business, he knew what it was right off the bat.
"What brings you here, young'n?" a gruff, quiet voice asked from the side, making Axe jump about a foot in the air, startled.
Clutching his chest, Axe turned to see a small, elderly man sitting at one of the tables, looking straight at him through small, round sunglasses.
"Ain't it a little dark to wear sunglasses indoors, ossan?"
"I dunno, ain't you a little young to be in a bar, kid?"
"Touche...," Axe grabbed a chair and spun it around before plopping down in front of the old timer, "So what's an old fart like yourself doing down here alone?"
The old man shook his head as he poured himself a drink, "If you must know, you nosy brat, I'm reflecting on good times long since passed,"
"Ah...anything good?"
"I said good times long since passed, didn't I? Pay attention,"
"Okay, geez, sorry," Axe tapped the back of his chair, "I had to duck in here to hide from the Marines,"
The old man looked at him before lowering the liquor bottle, "You a pirate kid?"
"Treasure hunter, really, but that's what they'd call me,"
"Awful young, ain't ya?"
"Maybe, but hey, gotta do what ya can, right?"
The old man eyed him, "So, what are you looking for, as a...treasure hunter, young'n?"
"The greatest treasure of them all," Axe grinned, "One Piece!"
The old man, who was about to have a sip of his drink, stayed his hand, his glass inches away from his lips as he looked up at Axe.
"What, I say something wrong, old man?" Axe pulled back, "Am I gonna hafta run outta here? I mean, are you gonna get the Marines down here or...what?"
"Heh," the old man shook his head and took a swig of his drink, "Nah, you don't have to worry about that, rookie," he lowered his glass, "Did you really duck in here by chance, or did you see the sign and get curious?"
Axe frowned a little, "Sign? What sign?"
The old man tapped the table, "This bar's sign. On it, is the name of the bar, kid. You didn't see it? Really?"
Axe shook his head.
"It's called Gold Roger,"
"AS IN-?!"
"Yes, as in the Pirate King," the old man cut him off quickly, "You don't know how many times I hear that everyday,"
"Sorry. Uhm...why is it named after the Pirate King?"
"Because, he himself was a customer here," the old man poured himself yet another drink, "He sat over there, at the counter, and told me that he was going to enter the Grand Line, even though I begged him not to. I told him no one goes there, and those who do, never come back. You know what he said?
Axe was silent and slowly shook his head.
"He said 'That's why I wanna go there!', can you believe him? He seemed like a foolish, suicidal, adventurous bastard at times, but his name lives on now, even years after his death,"
"Ossan," Axe rose from his chair after a few moments of silence and got as close as he could to the old man, excitement growing inside him with each second, "Tell me more about Gold Roger...tell me about the Pirate King!"
"I am smelling so much stuff here!" Toby sniffed the air as he hopped up onto a large crate (much to the annoyance of a nearby merchant), "So much good, so much bad...,"
Ripley pulled on his leg, telling him to get down before he got into trouble, "That's the city for you, kid. They got plenty of stuff you don't see in small villages," she looked off to the side, grinned before snatching something from the nearest wall.
"Ripley, that's st-,"
"It's out in public on a public building, it's free game, Kairi," Ripley cut her off, holding up what she snatched, "Besides, it's a poster, I don't think the Marines care all that much. Check it out, this is what I was talking about just now," she tapped the flyer, "You wouldn't see posters for a big rock concert in a small village, now would ya?"
Toby and Kairi looked at the poster, "Concert?"
ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY, THE ROCK BAND KNOWN AS TRIN-OTY WILL BE PERFOMING IN THE EAST BLUE SEA!
TICKETS ARE GOING FAST, SO COME TO ARMONIA ISLAND AND EXPERIENCE A TRULY AWESOME AND ROCKIN' EXPERIENCE!
Toby looked at the dates, "Hey, it's this week! Think we can go?"
Ripley shrugged, "Armonia's not too far from here, and we should have money for tickets, but it's really up to the captain to decide Toby,"
"So we gotta find him, ask him, and get a boat!"
"Right...problem is, we don't know where he is,"
Wow...that was awesome! Who knew someone today would be willing to talk about Roger from his prime before he died? Axe stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way down the road, following the ossan's instructions to the shipyard, Note to self, come back and write a book filled with that old fart's stories.
After a few hours of talking with the old bar owner, and a short time following his instructions, Axe finally found himself at Roguetown's shipyard. He stared at the large collection of ships that were being made and being sold there, his eyes bugging out his head and his jaw hitting the street as he did.
"Holy sh-!" he looked around, "Wow...lotsa ships...how much money we got left?!" he began to rummage through his pockets, "Aw crap, I don't have that much, I gotta find the others!"
Axe turned around and looked back the way he came, "Okay, I go back the way I came to get to the bar...but how the hell do I know where the other are?!"
"Ripley! Do you see him from up there?!"
Ripley looked around Roguetown from her viewpoint, a tall building with a spire on the very top. She looked through her eyeglass, trying to find her captain, but she wasn't having much luck. Sighing, she put the eyeglass away and jumped off the building, using her grappling line to slow her descent until she landed back on solid ground.
"Sorry guys, but I didn't see him from up there," Ripley reported as her line recoiled back into her tool, "He's probably in a diner, stuffing his face or something. Or...,"
"Or?"
"Or he kinda blabbed his mouth earlier and now the Marines are after him,"
Kairi rolled her eyes, "Axe may be a bit thick, but he's not that thick, Ripley,"
At that very moment, a group of Marines led by Smoker sped by them. Ripley caught one of the Marines by the arm, "What's going on, is something wrong?" she asked, acting as a concerned civilian.
The Marine shrugged, "I'm not sure, ma'am, but all I know is that there's this pirate with a big axe loose in town and we're trying to track him down! Excuse me, but I gotta get going!" he pulled away from Ripley and rushed to join his group, leaving the trio behind.
Ripley crossed her arms and slowly turned her head, raising an eyebrow at Kairi.
Kairi shifted uncomfortably, "Okay, maybe he is that thick...,"
Toby sighed, "Let's go find him...,"
Kilnorc: Yeah, Axe is thick.
On the next chapter of Origin...
Axe: FINALLY! Guys, I found the shipyard, so let's get going!
Kairi: You got a group of Marines and a mean-looking guy with cigars looking for you. This isn't going to be easy!
Ripley: This'll do us just fine for now, Boss. Not too big, not too small...
Axe: Go, go, go, go, go! Before they let that smoke guy know what we're doing!
Farewell, Roguetown! A New Ship and the Journey Continues!
Toby: Hey, Axe, can we make a stop at an island before we head there...?